THE TEC 140 HAS ARRIVED!!! (OLLY MADE ME DO IT PART 2)

[Jose Auger]

Last Monday I received my TEC 140. The wait was worth it. This is a real gem. A work of art. And as it ALWAYS happens, it started to rain and shower and thunderstorms are forecast for this weekend. I already have an excellent diagonal (by Baader, the best from them), and a full set of eyepieces by Baader and TeleVue. My eyes are itching waiting for skies to clear. enclosed photos.

[Roy Challen]

Verrry nice! Our ears are itching for a report

[Waldemar]

Congratulations with your incredible piece of art. You will never regret that you bought it. 
I use a MicroTouch focuser on it, works great! If you are going to image with it, Astro Physics makes a very nice reducer/flattener for it (expensive, though): the Quad TCC 0,72. Worth looking at it, I think. I did not buy it yet, but probably will.

BR

Waldemar

[DirkSteele]

Stunning!  Cannot wait to read the first light report.

[Chris]

A dream scope, congratulations  Looking forward to hearing about first light!

 

[Tzitzis]

A beauty for the eyes. Hope it gives you many great and unforgettable views!

[John]

Wonderful !!!!

 

[ollypenrice]

Lovely. How come it has a Feathertouch, though? My older one does but then they switched to their own focuser. Did they switch back again or did you specify an FT?

Olly

[Neil27]

Beautiful, may your skies remain clear and dark.

Although I doubt it, the astro gods are going to want a serious sacrifice for that scope  

Enjoy, 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very, very nice scope. I looked through Olly's TEC, and absolutely loved the views.

[xtreemchaos]

drool,  all this drooling is making me thirsty , cracking peice of kit mate, id love one, but ive only one working kidney so i carnt sell it , best of luck with your new scope and hope you have clear skys  charl.

[Jose Auger]

Thanks all. Olly: I do not know if Yuri is offering it with the Feathertouch, but I did ask for it. However, if you can access Yuri's page in Facebook, you will see two 140 that are being shipped to Italy (Nos. 700, and 701) and if you look carefully it seems that the focusers are Feathertouch. Seems that he is back to this focuser. Today, RAIN again, and the forecast is....RAIN again. Is there a rain avoidance dance that I may call upon to stop this?

BTW, although I have a Celestron CGE Pro, I am considering several options for a much better mount (the Celestron is not really bad at all). The ones I am considering (and yes, there are big $$$ differences among them) are: Losmandy HGM Titan; Software Bisque's Paramount MX+; Mesu 2000; 10 Micron GM2000 HPS II. And as usual, I shall take my time until I am really convinced about one of them (it took me almost two years to order the TEC 140).

[Jose Auger]

As mentioned, I put up the Celestron CGE Pro (yes, I do carry the whole mount and put it on top of the tripod, 100 pounds, and yes I am a mount masochist) and the TEC 140. Aligned the mount just for a first light look at the Moon only. RAAAAAIIIIN!!! Had to dismount everything. The telescope did not got wet. The mount did. Dried it with a towel and a blower. Everything seems in order. Will try again tomorrow (Didn't I mention that I am a mount masochist?).

[Dave In Vermont]

I keep a large, blue roofer's tarpaulin at my observing-site for those sneaky cloudbursts we always have - whenever I've set-up a heavy scope, etc.

That is one utterly amazing telescope you've landed there, Jose! Wow! an F/7 140mm ED, with a Feather Touch® as original equipment? Holy of holy! I wish you a year without clouds - or only clouds at ground-level, below the top of the tripod!

Nice!!

Dave

[laudropb]

That really is some scope. Looking forward to your first light report.

[ollypenrice]

On 15/07/2016 at 03:12, Jose Auger said:

Thanks all. Olly: I do not know if Yuri is offering it with the Feathertouch, but I did ask for it. However, if you can access Yuri's page in Facebook, you will see two 140 that are being shipped to Italy (Nos. 700, and 701) and if you look carefully it seems that the focusers are Feathertouch. Seems that he is back to this focuser. Today, RAIN again, and the forecast is....RAIN again. Is there a rain avoidance dance that I may call upon to stop this?

BTW, although I have a Celestron CGE Pro, I am considering several options for a much better mount (the Celestron is not really bad at all). The ones I am considering (and yes, there are big $$$ differences among them) are: Losmandy HGM Titan; Software Bisque's Paramount MX+; Mesu 2000; 10 Micron GM2000 HPS II. And as usual, I shall take my time until I am really convinced about one of them (it took me almost two years to order the TEC 140).

Of the two focusers I do, personally, prefer the FT. I have an example of each here. Both are good but the slow motion is more assured on the FT.

Best of luck with the weather!

Olly

[Jose Auger]

Thanks Dave, thanks Olly. Unfortunately the rain continues. No heavy lifting tonight. I tried several no rain dances, but it seems that the ones I found on the internet are FOR rain, so the results were contrary to what I was expecting. Will try next weekend again (I wish I could retire now with a decent retirement pension and be able to view and take photos).

[william123]

At this time, and probably from now on, TEC offers the APO140ED only with the Starlight Instruments Feathertouch focuser. 

I just purchased an APO140ED from OPT, off the shelf (lucky me!), and it has a Feathertouch focuser on it.

TEC stopped production of its own focuser a year or two ago.

William

[Jose Auger]

At last I was able to do a brief observation with the TEC 140 (but soon clouds showed up). Took a look at Jupiter. Eyepieces used were TeleVue Plossls 8mm and 5mm, and Baader Hyperion 13mm and 8mm. Diagonal was Baader 2" with Sitall Diagonal Mirror, and the 2" 90 degree Amici Prism Astronomical Quality. Only one word: Spectacular! The disk was perfectly defined, against a black, black, black, background. That is the contrast that you get. Incredible. Planet's bands were clearly discernible and even though the disk was not large, they stood clearly out. Mesmerized is the word. I showed it to my wife and she was as excited as I was. I noticed clouds over the horizon, and picked up the equipment on time. About 5 minutes later the rain (heavy) started.

I am planning to go to a star party next month which will be on a very dry area and try the telescope again. But, if last night's demonstration is only a small proof of what this scope is capable of, I am a happy camper. BTW, the seen was not too good, as there was Sahara dust in the atmosphere this weekend.

Thanks Olly for making me do it!

[kirkster501]

Hi Jose congrats on your TEC number 703.  I received mine in April #690 and I am delighted with it.  Hopefully you will get more usefrom yours than I can with mine in the dreadfully cloudy UK weather of late.

EDIT: Link to my thread here:

 

 

[A McEwan]

I bet the views will be amazing! Hope you get lots of amazing use from it!

 

[Jose Auger]

About four days ago was able to take a look at Mars. WOW!!! The disk was perfect. Although the disk was not big, I could easily see features that I had not seen with my other telescopes, save for a 180mm Mak. And the TEC had more contrast. Seeing was not so good, with dust in the atmosphere, but the TEC gave a lot of contrast. I will have to wait for an extended period of good seeing to try imaging. Clear skies to all!

[uhb1966]

On 07/16/2016 at 23:23, Jose Auger said:

Thanks Dave, thanks Olly. Unfortunately the rain continues. No heavy lifting tonight. I tried several no rain dances, but it seems that the ones I found on the internet are FOR rain, so the results were contrary to what I was expecting. Will try next weekend again (I wish I could retire now with a decent retirement pension and be able to view and take photos).

you need to pay someone for doing these raindances ... a few hundred km up from where the clouds are coming!!

[Jose Auger]

Yes, I'll have to take some aggressive action with the rain and dust. Already contacted a "rain doctor" but he only does dances to make it rain. Perhaps hiding all telescopes under beds will help, but I bet as soon as I take one out the rain and dust will come back. Anyway, I will sit tight and wait foe the skies to clear.

[Waldemar]

8 hours ago, Jose Auger said:

Yes, I'll have to take some aggressive action with the rain and dust. Already contacted a "rain doctor" but he only does dances to make it rain. Perhaps hiding all telescopes under beds will help, but I bet as soon as I take one out the rain and dust will come back. Anyway, I will sit tight and wait foe the skies to clear.

Maybe your 'rain-docter' can make it rain first to get rid of the dust and then when he goes home take the rain with him.